Five rounds into the AFL season and there have been quite a few surprises that have been sprung so far. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't have imagined – not even in my wildest dreams – that West Coast would be in the top two and would've won their past four games. I wouldn't have guessed that North Melbourne – tipped by many to finish either last or in the bottom two – are in the top four after a first half demolition of Hawthorn – Tell me how many of you guys saw that coming?
Other sides such as Fremantle and the Gold Coast Suns – teams that have stunk up the league over the past few years all of a sudden have a pulse and they are right in the frame of a top-eight spot, whilst sides that we expected to be in this position, such as St. Kilda and the Western Bulldogs, have struggled mightily and are languishing in the bottom four as of this moment.
But today, I'm not going to write about which teams have been the most impressive, but I'm going to look at eight players that have taken me by surprise after just five rounds this season - and when I mean surprise – I mean that they have surprised due to how impressive they have been. 8. Jeremy Finlayson Jeremy Finlayson has been in the system for a few years now, but has only just started to get a taste at senior level. He made his debut in round 15, recording just four handballs and three tackles in a draw with Geelong. However, once Nathan Wilson packed his bags to Fremantle and Zac Williams suffered a season-ending knee injury in the pre-season, the Greater Western Sydney Giants needed somebody to provide run, dash and rebound from half-back.
This is where Finlayson came into the fold. In just five games this season, he has shown that he has the potential to become a seriously damaging half-back flanker – averaging 21.2 disposals, 6.8 rebound 50s and four marks per game in what has been an impressive start to his 2018 season so far. The one thing that I have failed to mention here is that Finlayson has more size to him than Wilson or Williams could ever dream of. Standing at 196cm and weighing at 94kgs, Finlayson can be an instrumental part of the Giants' defence going forward. 7. Jaidyn Stephenson Despite bursting on to the scene with a five-goal game against last year's minor premiers in the Adelaide Crows, Jaidyn Stephenson has shown plenty of form throughout the first five games that suggest that he will become a star in the future. Having been to the ANZAC Day game and witnessed first hand what he can do, Stephenson's pace, athleticism and his smarts get him into good positions on the ground more on often than not and it's showed – particularly over the past fortnight.
So far this year, Stephenson has only managed averages of 12.6 disposals, 3.4 marks, 2.8 inside 50s and has seven goals to this point. They are only going to get better as the years go by and with each game he plays, he's going to be better for it in the long run. I will even go as far to say that this kid can be a genuine game-changer within five years. There's a reason recruiters labelled him a potential number one draft pick last year before he slid all the way down to number six overall, and we're starting to see real glimpses of it after just five rounds. 6. Liam Ryan This young man is the kind of person football fans pay their hard-earned dollars to go and see. It sucks that Liam Ryan is going to miss a fair portion of the year with an ankle injury, but he has shown in just three games, that he is more than capable of mixing it up in the big-leagues. Taken by the Eagles as a mature-aged recruit from Subiaco in the WAFL, he has shown that he can be a real excitement machine up forward, having taken a handful of spectacular grabs so early on in his career.
It doesn't stop there. Ryan in just three games has kicked seven goals, including two bags of three in rounds two and three. On top of that, as a forward, he is averaging 12.7 disposals, 4.3 marks, 2.3 tackles and 2.7 inside 50s. For a young lad that is only three games into his AFL career, I'm sure that West Coast fans have liked what they've seen in him so far, because I've really been impressed with how he has played in his role up forward. 5. Tom Doedee When Jake Lever decided to leave Adelaide to go home to Victoria and join Melbourne on a multi-million dollar contract, Adelaide placed their faith in young Tom Doedee to fill-in the role vacated by Lever full-time. When he was drafted as a first-round pick back in 2015, many scratched their heads as they believed he was project-type of player – he had the athleticism and the attributes to be a good player, but he needed to work on his football IQ.
After a couple of seasons plying his craft in the SANFL, Doedee was eventually rewarded with a debut in round one this year against the Bombers, and excelled from the get-go with 21 disposals, seven marks and four rebound 50s. He backed it up the following week against Richmond and earned himself the round two Rising Star nomination. His performances, in combination with Lever's poor performances at Melbourne, have prompted many to ponder whether or not it's Don Pyke's system at Adelaide that makes the player. Regardless of this, Doedee has been terrific so far this season. 4. Billy Hartung Whilst at Hawthorn, everybody acknowledged Billy Hartung's amazing running ability, he broke records at the draft combine in 2013, and had been an okay player whenever the Hawks needed him to fill-in for an injured player. Despite playing 63 games for the Hawks, Hartung's game was a little underwhelming at times, and by the end of last year, Hawthorn had had enough of him and delisted him.
However, North took the chance on him in with their last pick in the 2017 AFL Draft, and so far he has been very impressive in terms of making his presence felt on the ground. In 2018, he has managed every game so far and is averaging 21.2 disposals, 4.4 marks, 3.2 inside 50s and 2.4 clearances, as well as kicking four goals from five starts – his best-ever number of goals in a season is 11, so he's well on the way to breaking it if he continues his form. 3. Todd Marshall He was touted as a potential number one draft pick in 2016, before sliding down the order drastically to late in the first round, where Port had a look at the young man from Deniliquin with the 16th pick in the draft. The thing that had recruiters raving about Marshall leading up to the draft was his ability to pick up the ball below his knees, and for somebody pretty tall (Standing at 198cm), that's something remarkable and has the hallmarks of a legitimate key forward once he fully develops.
He made his debut in round 22 against the Western Bulldogs and played in the thrilling Elimination Final loss to West Coast, hoping that the experience would help Marshall into 2018. So far it's been a very good start for him, kicking nine goals in four games so far, whilst averaging minimal statistics of 9.5 disposals and 2.2 marks per game, which makes it all the more impressive. He missed the game against Port Adelaide on Saturday night and will be out indefinitely due to personal reasons, but he is a critical piece in Port's forward line going into the future. 2. Tim English After playing just two games from 22 starts in 2017, Tim English has taken quite a few steps in terms of his development in 2018. With injuries to multiple players that can play ruck, this young ruckman from Western Australia has had to shoulder a fair bit of the ruckload so far, and he's shown quite a fair bit in his five games this year, despite the fact that he's nowhere near ready to fully combat the seasoned bodies of veteran ruckmen. He's averaging 14.8 hitouts, 14.4 disposals, six marks and 2.2 inside 50s per game.
The thing that really makes me excited about his future is that not only is he a very good distributor of the football, it is that isn't afraid to attack the footy. I love the way he runs at the footy whenever the ball is kicked to a pack he's in. Sometimes he may pluck them, but other times he's well beaten by bigger bodies, but the time will come where Tim English will be an All-Australian ruckman. Oh and to all my fellow Bulldogs supporters out there that want to call him the next Scott Wynd – please don't. I love him as much as the next Doggies' fan, but the club and the AFL need Tim English, not a fan-acclaimed bootleg of a Bulldogs' legend. 1. Tim Kelly In amidst all the hype surrounding Geelong's big three of midfielders that be Patrick Dangerfield, Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood, there is one man who is just slowly doing his own thing without many people actually taking notice. This man is mature-aged recruit Tim Kelly. Plucked from WAFL club South Fremantle in the 2017 AFL Draft, this man has shown that he has got the talent to become a serious piece in Geelong's line-up in the future. Turns 24 in July, so there's still a lot of upside in him, and could become a 27-28 disposals per game player within a few years.
So far though, in just five games he has played in the hoops, Kelly has averaged 21.6 disposals, 4.2 inside 50s, 3.8 clearances and 3.8 tackles per game. Not only that, but he has proven that he can hit the scoreboard as well, kicking six goals in those five games, with an average of 1.2 goals per game. Geelong's recruiting manager Stephen Wells has made a living off recruiting gems with later draft picks, and unquestionably, he's done it again in the form of one Tim Kelly, this man will be a star within a few years.
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